When this past week began, the Brickies were traveling full speed ahead (similar to all of the cars in the Indy 500) into postseason play ... softball & baseball heading into the Sectional, girls & boys track & field were entering the Regional round along with Emma Novak from girls tennis ... plus the boys golf team was competing in the NCC Championship meet ... you knew it was going to be EXCITING! I'd rather not give too much away here in the intro ... let's just say that the week lived up to the HYPE!!

A major purpose of high school sports ... education-based athletics ... is to learn life lessons. Probably one of the most critical ones is to sacrifice individual needs in order to do what's best for the team. We all do this in one way or the other on a daily basis - with our families, with our careers, etc. With it being Memorial Day Weekend, let us not forget the sacrifices made by so many for the greater good of this wonderful country we get to call home. Please be thankful for the freedoms we have and honor & remember those who died to provide them ... they didn't come free.

Ok, let's close down the grill ... it's time for BricksCenter!

Two words ... MAY MADNESS! This past week, the Brickies began IHSAA Sectional play over at Valparaiso High School and it has been nothing but EDGE OF YOUR SEAT ACTION!

On Wednesday, Hobart faced Chesterton. Back on Friday, April 29th, our boys defeated the Trojans 8-2; however, post-season play is always a whole new ballgame. In the rematch, Chesterton struck 1st with a run in the 3rd and then added another in the top of the 4th to take a 2-0 lead. Hobart responded with 2 in the bottom half of the inning to tie things up at 2-2! In the bottom of the 5th, a storm blew in and caused an hour-long delay before the skies cleared and play resumed. Each team added a run over the next 2 innings and the Brickies came up to bat in the bottom of the 7th with the score still tied at 3-3.

Junior Kyle Feterick singled ... advanced to 2nd on a sacrifice bunt from freshman Connor Stafford ... then took 3rd on a pitch that got away. At that point, Chesterton loaded the bases intentionally to create a force out at the plate. Fortunately for the Brickies, another pitch got away from the catcher and Feterick SCORED TO WIN THE GAME!!!! INCREDIBLE!! Junior Cam Gonzalez, freshman Aiden Leonard & senior Ivan Balboa collectively kept the Trojan hitters off-balance with a brilliant pitching performance and helped our boys SURVIVE & ADVANCE!

Friday, the Brickies took on the host Vikings in the semifinal round ... and it was another INSTANT CLASSIC! Once again, our boys fell behind 2-0 early, but fought back to tie it up on a 2-run single from Balboa! Valpo loaded the bases in the bottom of the 7th and it appeared that they might steal the victory; however, the Brickie D-D-D-DEFENSE got back-to-back outs to end the threat and send the game into EXTRA INNINGS!! In the top of the 9th, sophomore Carlos Santana drew a walk ... classmate Thomas Martin doubled ... and senior Ty Vann was intentionally walked to load the bases. Feterick again put on his HERO CAPE and singled to score Santana and give H-town a 3-2 lead! With 1 out in the bottom half of the inning, Feterick ... still wearing the cape ... caught a line-drive and made a quick throw to 2nd for a double-play to END THE GAME and deliver a VICTORY for the boys in purple & gold!!! UNBELIEVABLE!! Balboa was simply magnificent on the bump as he pitched the entire game and kept the Viking offense in check.

The "comeback kids" will play Crown Point on Monday, 5/30, at 11am for the IHSAA Sectional Championship! The game will be played at Valparaiso High School ... tickets are $6 and can be purchased at the gate. DON'T STOP NOW BOYS!!!

#BOYSOFSUMMER

The IHSAA Regional for track & field is one of the most exciting events of the spring ... individuals who place in the top 3 automatically advance to the STATE FINALS next weekend. Individuals (or relays) placing outside the top 3 in an event may receive a "call back" to STATE if they surpass the "state standard" or have one of the top 3 marks to not receive an automatic bid. Make sense??? Well, it does to track people :)

Girls

Competing in 5 of the 16 events at the Regional, the Lady Brickies tied for 25th place out of the 27 teams represented on Tuesday night at Portage High School. Almost EVERY Hobart athlete performed near or above their season/lifetime best on a beautiful night in Porter County. Sophomore Cailey Weber placed 6th in the 300m hurdles and junior Haylie Skripac was 12th overall! They each also raced in the 100m hurdles and placed 12th (Skripac) and 13th (Weber) respectively. The Hobart 4x100m relay team consisting of junior Sarah Romeo, sophomore Alyssa Adams and seniors JaDiah Belk & Dominique Clemons dropped time from last week's sectional to place 12th! The 4x400m relay team consisting of Romeo, Weber and sophomores Ella Freimuth & Elisia Otero was FANTASTIC and snuck into the top 10 with a time of 4:22!! In the High Jump, junior Daeges Morgan SOARED to a lifetime best jump of 5'0" to also finish in the top 10!! AWESOME!!

Unfortunately, the Lady Brickies did not have anyone advance to next weekend's state meet; however, their performance at the IHSAA Regional was PHENOMENAL and we are SO VERY PROUD of these young ladies and how well they represented Hobart!! GREAT JOB GIRLS!!

Boys

On the boys side, the Brickies were competing in 6 of 16 events at the Regional. Hobart placed 10th out of the 33 schools represented on Thursday night at Valparaiso High School. Against the best of the best in the "219", OUR BOYS SHINED! Season best performances were on display for this Band 'O Brickies as the 3200m Relay team made up of freshman Felix Lopez, sophomore Ryan Mattel and seniors Joe Meagher & Dakota Vanderberg RACED to a SEASON BEST time of 8:29 ... over 10 seconds faster than they ran a week ago ... to place 6th overall!! Lopez then came back in the 1600m run and recorded ANOTHER PR with a time of 4:45 to place 14th!

Freshman Willy Shearer gained some GREAT experience with an 11th place finish in the fast section of the 400m dash ... the 2nd fastest 9th grader in NWI ... and sophomore Anthony Hnilo did the same with his Regional debut in the high jump.

Junior Gavin Miller ... the 2022 NCC long jump champion and a Regional qualifier a year ago in the high jump ... landed in the dirt with a leap of 22'5.5" - 3 inches further than the state standard and QUALIFIED FOR STATE!! Miller placed 3rd overall and will head to Bloomington next Saturday for the state finals. Joining Gavin at Indiana University next weekend will be classmate Cody Johnston! Cody ... who has set new meet records the last 2 weeks in a row - 1st at the NCC Championship and then at last week's IHSAA Sectional ... FLEW to a NEW REGIONAL RECORD height of 16'7" to WIN the event and punch his return ticket to IU!! Cody placed 3rd at the state championship in 2021 and will head back to the finals with the #1 seed in the entire state!! AMAZING!!!

The Boys IHSAA STATE FINALS will be take place next Saturday, June 4th, at the Robert C. Haugh Track & Field Complex at Indiana University. WE ARE HO-BART!!! LET'S GOOOOOOO!!!

#SPECTRACKULAR

The Lady Brickies bowed out of the IHSAA post season as a team last week when they dropped a heart-breaker in the sectional semifinals against rival Andrean. Individually, senior Emma Novak went UNDEFEATED in two sectional rounds and advanced to play at Thursday's Regional over at Munster!

Novak ... a 4-year starter for Hobart who played all 3 singles spots throughout her career ... squared off against Lake Central #1 Leah Palkon, who advanced after defeating Melanie Rodriguez from Hammond Morton. Due to weather concerns, Thursday's match up was moved indoors to Match Point Tennis & Fitness Club in Griffith. In a back-and-forth match, Novak dropped the 1st set 2-6. Emma FOUGHT HARD in the 2nd set to try and tie things up at 1-a-piece, but Palkon continued to find success and eventually won the match 2-6, 2-6.

Emma walked off the court for the last time with her head held high. During her time at HHS, she helped the Lady Brickies win 2 sectional championships (would've been 3 if not for the 2020 season being cancelled due to COVID) and always represented The Friendly City with class!

CONGRATULATIONS on a TERRIFIC CAREER EMMA! WE ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU!!

#LOVETENNIS

You would think that finally getting some nice weather in the "219" would help our scores drop ... and you'd be right! It was CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK for the Brickies as our boys took part in the Northwest Crossroads Conference championship meet.

Before Tuesday's NCC meet, the Brickies hosted Griffith on Monday at River Pointe and celebrated SENIOR NIGHT!! Senior Ethan Cover was recognized prior to the match for his commitment & dedication to our golf team over the last FORE years and our boys made sure he went out on a high note by picking up the VICTORY over the Panthers!

Tuesday morning, Hobart traveled to Scherwood Golf Course in Schererville for the Northwest Crossroads Conference Championship meet. It was a beautiful morning for swinging the wrenches and the Brickies took full advantage of it! The Brickies were led by two sophomores, Parker Glass & Ben Eberle, as they collectively shot 20 strokes better than a year ago at the conference meet! Overall, our boys finished 5th in the NCC for the 2nd consecutive year and will now take aim at the IHSAA Sectional!

Here are the scores from Tuesday:

Sophomore Parker Glass - 91

Sophomore Ben Eberle - 98

Senior Ethan Cover - 106

Sophomore Nate Becerra - 113

Freshman Tommy Snemis - 120

Hobart now has a week of practice to WORK WORK WORK on their short game before IHSAA Sectional play begins next Friday, June 3rd, at Forest Park in Valparaiso.

#BETHEBALL

It was SECTIONAL WEEK, which meant "GO TIME" for the Lady Brickies over at Chesterton High School!

On Tuesday, Hobart squared off against the Crown Point Lady Bulldogs ... winners of 6 out of the last 10 sectionals. The two squads did not face each other during the regular season, but based on records and how each was playing heading into the post-season, this one looked to be a GOOD ONE! Through 3 innings of play, both teams were DIALED IN on D-D-D-DEFENSE and the scoreboard showed all 0's. Finally, in the bottom half of the 4th inning, the Lady 'Dawgs broke through and plated 2 runs to gain the advantage. In the 6th, Hobart sophomore slugger Keirys Click hit one that hasn't landed yet ... a HOMERUN that cut the deficit in half!! Throughout the game, our girls were getting on base ... just could not quite get a key hit when we needed it and ultimately, Crown Point held on for a nail-biting 2-1 win. Sophomore Morgan Ellenberger gave it everything she had in the circle - surrendering only 4 hits and striking out 4 - and got backed up by some terrific defense in the loss

The Lady Bulldogs eventually went on to win the sectional championship ... their 7th in 11 years and 2nd in a row. The Lady Brickies finished 12-14 this spring, finished 4th in the NCC, and literally got a positive contribution from EVERY SINGLE GIRL that played! WE ARE SO PROUD of these girls ... they were a GREAT GROUP that was FUN TO WATCH!! Obviously, next year is a long way away, but with just 3 seniors graduating ... the future looks so bright for these young ladies, they need some SHADES!!

#SHINELIKEADIAMOND

Monday - Happy Memorial Day

Baseball vs. Crown Point - IHSAA Sectional Championship (11am @ Valparaiso High School)

Tuesday

Physicals available after school for 2022-2023 school year

Wednesday

No Events Scheduled

Thursday

No Events Scheduled

Friday

Boys Golf @ IHSAA Sectional

Saturday

Cody Johnston & Gavin Miller @ IHSAA Track & Field STATE FINALS

*Baseball @ IHSAA Regional (If win on Monday) hosted by LaPorte High School